Directors message

William C. Miller and Debra R. Miller, Directors

A perfect storm has arisen in business pressures, business priorities, and HR maturity… one that offers CEOs, CINOs, CHRO, and CLOs a pivot-point opportunity to come together to transform – to jump-shift – their impact on overall business performance.

That opportunity is to concentrate on the single most important, highest priority driver of business success today. What is that driver?

The capacity to INNOVATE is absolutely central to the transformation that business leaders around the world are looking for. This means putting the power, responsibility, knowledge and tools for innovation at the fingertips of every employee – with a common language and understanding, integrated productivity tools, and processes that can be used throughout the organization. This competency building is far more than just the behaviors and skills needed. It also includes the inner transformation and mindset shifts required to mobilize the entire workforce as a coherent, innovative whole.

It’s been a great year working with our clients, developing a line of video-based self-study programs, and attending and speaking at many conferences for Chief Innovation Officers, Chief Human Resource Officers, and professionals in Open Innovation and Talent Development. There are stories upon stories where innovative solutions have made a difference to customers, employees, vendors, society, and company goals.

And yet, despite all the attention that innovation is getting, we’ve experienced that serious innovation competency-building is still falling through the cracks in many organizations. According to research reports by the Conference Board, KPMG, PWC, BCG, and others, the vast majority of CEOs globally name innovation as 1 of their top 3 business priorities. Yet more than half say their organizations are not meeting that challenge.

Many who lead innovation initiatives are focused more on the processes that produce innovative outcomes, rather than building the fundamental, sustainable innovation competencies needed for individuals and teams to innovate to their highest capacity. And many HR and Talent Development professionals don’t yet “own” innovation as a strategic priority for their competency-building efforts at all levels.

We’ve come to appreciate just what a critical time this is for mastering the art and discipline of enabling innovation across the entire organization. We invite you to thoughtfully consider what challenges you face in your organization, and how “being innovative” is fundamental to meeting each of those challenges.

Our mission is to make your life simpler, and to support you in transforming your impact on your organization’s success. If enabling innovation is a priority for you and your organization, join us for an enriching conversation!